Because He Loved Her
by MaryVic
Summary: A bruised and battered Bellatrix is haunted by nightmares, whilst Rodolphus is haunted by the night when she returned after being punished by Voldemort. Better than the summary.


**Hey Readers! This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction, so hopefullyit's good and you'll like it. Some of it may be a little out of character, but I reckon it's not too wildly out of the realms of character recognition. So I hope you enjoy it and would really appreciate any reviews if you woud like to leave any?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character referred to or mentioned in the followinf story, they belong to JK Rowling.**

His cold, high, raspy voice echoed in her ears as she tossed and turned restlessly in her sleep.

"_You deserve this Bellatrix, you know that." He said as if talking to a child that had been naughty._

"_Yes my lord, yes." She answered as tears welled in her eyes. Her breathing was shallow as she tried to lie perfectly still, but found it impossible as her body twitched and jerked from the aftershocks of the pain._

"_Crucio." Voldemort muttered with a careless flick of his wrist. She writhed on the cold floor in agony, blood smeared the damp stone as her scalp rubbed against it, she had scraped it earlier when he performed the curse the first time that night and here she was four hours later. He lifted the curse and spoke to her at length a few times, for he had no interest in torturing her if she had passed out. He gave her time to recover to ensure she stayed conscious for as long as possible. Voldemort chuckled as she convulsed in pain and the tears that had been stinging her eyes for hours finally spilled out and trickled down her face. She would have preferred it if he had laughed loudly, roared with glee perhaps, but he just chuckled, he wasn't just amused by her pain, it made him happy. She spent her life attending to his every request and if she failed then he would subject her to torture for hours, the chuckling faded as pain ripped through her body and she longed to scream._

Bellatrix awoke for the third time that week. Her head was pounding, her cheeks were stained with tears, her hair was stuck to her face and she sat upright, wincing at the pained in her ribs as she tried to regain her breath.

Rodolphus whom had been sleeping peacefully beside his wife, woke abruptly and looked over at her distraught, shaking form, he moved to be beside her, immediately encircling her in his arms. She leaned into him and gasped for breath. He felt her tears on his bare chest as he held her, peeling her hair off of her face and tucking it back behind her ears.

"Shh Bella, it's okay, shh. It was just a nightmare, it's okay, it's over." He held her carefully remembering how broken she had looked when she returned home after Voldemort punished her for failing and allowing the potter boy to escape at the Malfoy's.

_Rodolphus was waiting at home ( in a residence owned by the Black family that the ministry knew not of, they could hardly have returned to the mansion belonging to his family after they were broken out of Azkaban.) He was worried about Bella, he expected her to be home by now, she was never home this late. Rodolphus never went to bed before his wife came home, he knew it seemed silly but he just couldn't sleep without her there. Fourteen years without being able to see her in Azkaban had made him particularly protective of her, now they were together again, he didn't want to lose her. He got up from his armchair and walked over to the fireplace, he was going to the Malfoy's he wanted know what was going on. He was about to take a handful of floo powder when green flames appeared in the fireplace and a bloodied Lucius Malfoy stumbled out holding an uconcious and severely battered Bellatrix in his arms._

"_Rod, there was nothing we could do...I mean...she's alive!" Lucius assured him before continuing, "The Dark Lord, he was furious, he used the Cruciatus curse on her, she hit her head and...well..." he trailed off._

"_It's okay, it's not your fault. I'll get her cleaned up and I'll speak to you tomorrow." He said as he carefully took his wife's limp form from his friend's arms. _

"_Are Draco and Narcissa okay?" Rodolphus asked as an afterthought._

"_He performed the cruciatus curse on Draco twice and er...threw him against the wall several times, he will be okay. He used the cruiciatus curse on Narcissa once, she's with Draco now, I have to go back, he's not finished with me yet." Lucius' voice shook, Rodolphus had experienced and used the cruciatus curse several times himself, only Mudbloods and blood traitors should have to experience that degree of pain._

"_Of course, I hope you are not harmed too much Lucius, I will see you soon good friend." Rodolphus said looking sombre._

"_Goodnight Rod." Lucius nodded, took some floo powder stepped into the fireplace, "Malfoy Manor." Green flames appeared once more and Lucius was gone. _

_Rodolphus carried his wife up_ _to their bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He called one of their house elves to bring healing potion and a potion for pain. The house elf arrived with the potions and Rodolphus dismissed the elf. He looked at his wife's face, she was bruised and bleeding. There was a purple bruise that had blossomed on her right cheek and another on her left temple, numerous cuts on her lips, right eyebrow and cheeks. Her face was crusted with dried blood, where the Dark Lord has most likely thrown her against the wall several times over. He undressed Bellatrix who was still unconscious, tears filled his dark eyes as he saw the state of her body, deep purple bruises mottled her ribs, there were vicious scrapes on her hips where she had writhed on the floor whilst under the curse, the skin on her heels and ankles was raw from rubbing against the floor in her struggling against inescapable pain and she was covered in dried blood. He washed her body with the healing potion and warm water, He wringed out the cloth he was using over the sink and bloodstained liquid dripped from it. When all the blood was gone from her face and body he cradled her head and washed the blood from her matted hair, cleaning the wound from the back of her head before performing a clotting spell to stop the bleeding. The Dark Lord always enchanted his victims after torture to make spells that healed injuries ineffective, they could be helped by magic but they would still take time to heal naturally. After cleaning her up completely, he dressed her in her favourite green nightdress and put her to bed, performed a spell to clean the blood from the duvet, sheets and pillows before slipping into bed beside and waiting for her to wake so that he could give her the pain potion._

After a couple of minutes of crying into his chest, her arms wrapped around his abdomen, Bellatrix looked up.

"I keep hearing him torturing me, hearing how happy it made him. I can feel it in the dreams Rod, I can feel it and it's unbearable, the pain Rod, I can't take it!" Tears streaked her face as more spilled from her beautiful, dark eyes that were looking up at him in desperation, begging him for some kind of solution that would somehow stop the pain. He reached the bedside for the pain potion that one of their house elves had brought four nights ago, he poured some into her goblet and held it to her lips. She drank it gratefully, before leaning against him crying again. He kissed her head and ran his finger through her hair, careful to avoid the wound to the back of her head.

"Bella, it's okay, you're safe, I'm here, he can't hurt you now, I'm here Bella, I'm with you my love. I'm not leaving you Bella love, I love you Bella, it's okay." He whispered to her.

"I love you too Rod, I love you too." She whispered to him and she clung to him tighter, she only ever felt safe with Rodolphus. For three hours Rodolphus held her in his arms, it was getting light outside when he finally heard her breathing even out and he lay back down with her in his arms to sleep once more. Rodolphus lay awake for some time after, he hated the way the Dark Lord treated his wife, he watched her desperately try to please him over and over again, her efforts was rarely appreciated. He wished they could escape the Dark Lord but Bella would never agree, she was too strongly wrapped up in the cause, even if they tried the Dark Lord would punish them and hurt Bella even more, maybe even kill her or him. Rodolphus didn't like to think of his life without Bella but he hated to think of Bella without him. He loved and wanted to always be there. She acted tough but he needed to protect her and look after her when she was hurt. They would never leave the Death Eaters, because whilst this meant they may sometimes get hurt, it was their only way to be together. And without each other, they were nothing. Rodolphus supported the Dark Lord's cause but it wasn't worth all the suffering. He put up with it for one reason and one reason only; because he loved her and she loved him back.


End file.
